


Undo The Damage; Be New Again

by AislingSiobhan



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU, Abusive Relationship (Tony/Ultron), Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Character Death, Dubious Consent, Flashbacks, Kidnapping (Sort of), Loki needs to hurry up and save Tony, M/M, Other, Post-Thor: The Dark World, Slash, Sort of? - Freeform, Spoilers, Ultron is an prick, false imprisonment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 02:57:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3192641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AislingSiobhan/pseuds/AislingSiobhan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Like JARVIS was created using scans of the real Edwin Jarvis’ brain, Ultron was made from Loki; because Tony missed him, and Tony wanted him back, but Loki had gone and gotten himself killed by Melkor on crack, so he wasn’t coming back and Tony didn’t even have a body to bury because Thor had left it behind. So Tony built one. And he gave it a heart and a brain and let it think for itself just like JARVIS; but Loki was cut from a different cloth, and Ultron turned out nothing like JARVIS. Vicious and crazy and too smart for its own good, yet Tony couldn’t bring himself to shut Ultron down; every time he tried, Loki’s green eyes stared at him out of that metal face and Tony felt like his metal heart was being ripped from his chest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Undo The Damage; Be New Again

Despite having 900,000 WIPs I could work on and 13 weeks of University I need to catch up on in the next two months before my exams… I have been working on this one-shot instead. Because I have Frostiron feels all of the time, but now I’m also having Ultron feels and I wanted to combine them. 

 

**“Undo the Damage; Be New Again”**

**Disclaimer:** The Avengers, Tony, Loki, etc belong to Marvel, Stan Lee, et co. I make no money from this and own nothing, don’t sue.   
**Summary:** [Tony/Loki] Like JARVIS was created using scans of the real Edwin Jarvis’ brain, Ultron was made from Loki; because Tony missed him, and Tony wanted him back, but Loki had gone and gotten himself killed by Melkor on crack, so he wasn’t coming back and Tony didn’t even have a body to bury because Thor had left it behind. So Tony built one. And he gave it a heart and a brain and let it think for itself just like JARVIS; but Loki was cut from a different cloth, and Ultron turned out nothing like JARVIS. Vicious and crazy and too smart for its own good, yet Tony couldn’t bring himself to shut Ultron down; every time he tried, Loki’s green eyes stared at him out of that metal face and Tony felt like his metal heart was being ripped from his chest.   
**Warnings:** Slash. Loki/Tony. Age of Ultron (sort of compliant). AU. Character Death (Thor 2 compliant). Ultron/Tony (one sided)? Dub-con. Abusive relationship. Kidnapping (sort of). Ultron-6 you are an ass. Loki needs to hurry up and save Tony.   
**Rating:** NC17  
 **A/N:** Ultron + Frostiron = My brain is a messy place. Flashbacks are in italics, but not in order necessarily. Bold is Ultron’s POV.   
**Title:** From: “Three Wishes” by The Pierces _(And undo her damage, she’ll be new again, soon you’ll find that if you try to save her it will renew her anger. You will never win)_ , as is the quote at the start of the fiction. 

_XXX_

**Words:** 15,928  
 **Chapter 1**  
 _“We'd be so less fragile_  
If we're made from metal   
And our hearts from iron   
And our minds from steel   
And if we built an armour   
For our tender bodies”

*

_"So, can I study your magic?"_

_The bed dipped a little, as Loki rolled onto his side. His arm pulled out from under Tony's neck so he could prop his own head up as he stared at his lover, face to face with wide green eyes. "Excuse me?"_

_"Can I study your magic?" Tony asked again, like it was perfectly normal, like asking someone to pass the salt. "Cause it's awesome, and you're awesome and I want to know everything about you, inside and out. Even all the weird bits that make my brain want to shrivel up in denial. So can I?"_

_Loki blinked twice, mouth dropping open as his throat convulsed: struggling to find something to say._

_"Sure?" He asked, rather than answered, because he wasn't quite certain he knew what the answer should be._

_"Awesome!" Tony grinned widely, and winked once. Then he tipped his head forward to brush his lips against Loki's, before twisting his body to mirror the God's earlier position, on his back with his arm under Loki's head, dragging his lover against his side._

_XXX_

"JARVIS," Tony shouted, not quite loud enough to be heard over the blaring music that pumped from the speakers in his lab; but JARVIS still heard him. 

"Yes, Sir?" The artificially intelligent, self-learning computer program slash butler extraordinaire answered, turning down the music as he did, so that Tony's human hearing could detect his words. 

"Bring up the scans again, J. I think I'm finally ready to rock and roll." Tony swiped his hands apart, pointer finger extended while they others were curled up, and he swished them across the holo-screen in front of him, moving folders and zooming in on particular areas of code. 

"Here you go, Sir," JARVIS dutifully informed him after carrying out the instruction. A new folder popped up on screen. It was relatively small in comparison to most of Tony's other projects, but he'd had all the time in the world to work on those but he'd only had Loki for those few months he'd been in prison. Six, seven? It seemed a lot shorter though, to Tony who felt like he'd only blinked and Loki had suddenly disappeared from his life after entering it so unexpectedly. After Pepper left him, he'd never thought he'd find another person so perfect for him (well, turned out Pepper wasn't perfect for him, but she was _perfect_ in general). Loki, on the other hand, was. 

Tony had never denied the accusations that he was a narcissist. In fact, he tended to own up to them. Before Afghanistan he was a self-obsessed asshole who loved himself (despite his many, many flaws, most of which he couldn't admit to until after Afghanistan, and even then, he was still a self-obsessed asshole who loved himself but who wanted to help others [for the adrenaline rush mostly]). Loki was adopted, nothing like Thor in looks or behaviour, in thought or feeling or at all in fact. But he was very much like Tony. 

Looking into Loki's eyes was like looking into a mirror; what Tony could have been if he had blown his way out of that cave and not found Rhodey waiting in a chopper for him, searching for him. 

Helping Loki, loving Loki, it was very much like understanding himself. Easy, and simple but wonderful and different at the same time. Always challenging, always changing. Until the day it changed completely and Thor came back to propose to Jane and Loki didn't come back at all. But that was one in a long list of bad things that had happened in Tony's life, bad memories and bad thoughts; but since Afghanistan Tony was more about fixing the bad things than being beaten by them. And this, right here, this was Tony fixing it. 

The folder was small, and the files were named in a combination of Latin, Norse and what Loki termed 'a language beyond your comprehension, mortal mine', but that Tony bet was Asgardian or Asgard-speak or whatever. It was very similar to the folder that Tony still kept, even after all these years, named 'E. Jarvis', and in that folder, like this folder, were scans and biopsy results and charts and diagrams and schematics: everything that Tony thought he needed to remember about his old friend (his original butler) in order to make himself a new one. 

The only difference was that this folder was named 'Loki'. 

_XXX_

_Tony's right hand had raised before his eyes had finished comprehending what they saw. The gauntlet that he had been tinkering with lit up with a whirring noise, repulsor charged and ready to fire. Loki just smiled slowly bringing his hands up palms out in front of his chest._

_"Ah, there's no need for that now! I'm not really here, Man of Iron."_

_"Oh?" Tony enquired, hand still raised defensively. His left came up to join the first, having stealthily slipped its way inside of the second gauntlet: even without being closed, and falling off of his hand after one shot, they still packed a punch._

_"Indeed," Loki assured softly. In a blink of an eye he had moved from one side of the lab to the other, standing directly in front of Tony. Long fingers circled Tony's wrists, pushing and pulling them until they had lowered and the repulsors were no longer aimed at the God's face._

_"Not real, my ass!" Tony struggled in Loki's grip, but the God's fingers were like vices, tight and unyielding. Loki smiled softly, the gauntlets disappearing in a puff of smoke as he did so, only to reappear undamaged on the desk. "HEY!"_

_"I am Loki Dream-walker. This," he released one of Tony's wrists to wave his hand dismissively around, gesturing at the lab, "is nothing for me to achieve. I am not really here, this is but a manifestation of my metaphysical self, my magic, my soul as you might say. My body is in Asgard, bound and silenced, awaiting a trial that has not yet drawn near. I was bored."_

_He surged forward, striking like a snake, to press his lips against Tony's ones. They parted in shock, but Loki took advantage of that to lick into the seam, teasing at Tony's teeth until the mortal began to struggle again. Loki let go of Tony completely then. The mortal immiediately raised his hands again, this time curled into fists; ineffective though they may be against a God._

_"Now I am not." Loki kissed him again, grinning widely against Tony's mouth with his hands fisted painfully in his hair. When Tony remembered to push Loki away, his palms met air. And Loki was already gone._

_XXX_

"How's it coming, J?"

Tony was trying not to pace. It was hard, and he was failing, but he had been trying not to pace.

"Calibrations are complete, Sir, and power is at 97% and charging. We should be ready soon." JARVIS' response was even, unaffected by the anxiety that made Tony's sound high pitched and breathless. He was a computer, admittedly a self-learning fully functioning artificially intelligent one, but a computer nonetheless: computers could mimic feelings, but not understand them. They couldn't be anxious or frantic... or love, but Tony was hoping that magic might bridge that gap when they came to it. 

"Let's rock and roll, J. I was ready for this to be happening two months ago." That was just after Thor had saw fit to inform them that Loki had di-- 

Nope. Not dwelling on the bad thoughts, Tony chastised himself mentally. Fixing them, not wallowing in them. That was his new plan of action. This, all of this, was the culmination of two months of frantic work and desperate prayers to gods he didn't even believe in now that Loki was no longer among them. 

"Power at 100%. Running the program now, Sir." There was a hum and the lights flickered for a moment before the bulbs burst and it went completely dark. Power shut down all over the Tower for the minute and a half it took the backup generators to kick into action. In the lab, the only light came from the machines that were attached to the ceiling, hovering over the face and chest and crotch of the Iron Man suit that lay motionless face up, on a work bench, arms and legs strapped in place with adamantium cords. The machines flashed periodically, flash-flash flash-flash like a heartbeat, and Tony felt his own pound along in time. This was it. The result of two months of work, twenty-seven bottles of scotch, and what felt like years of sleepless nights. It was happening, and Tony laughed loudly as he held his arms out at his sides, wanting to twirl but feeling that might be taking it a little too far. He felt like Victor Frankenstein after discovering his creature brought to life; he felt like a God! 

The suit shifted, right leg twitching and the fingers of the left hand clenching into a fist before relaxing. The visor had been dark, but it lit up now, in green and gold, casting a shadow across the pale gold vibranium face plate. Its mouth opened with a creak of new metal wearing in, snapped shut and then opened again, smoother this time. "Hello mortal mine," it said, in a voice that sounded just like Loki's. 

Tony didn't think, didn't breathe, couldn't in fact. It had worked. It might not look much like Loki now, aside from the paint job, but it sounded like him and it spoke like him, and Tony could fix the suit up, upgrade it, make it more Loki-ish now that he knew it actually worked. Before he could respond appropriately, release the new Loki or do a victory dance, Tony's eyes rolled back in his head and DUMM-E failed to catch him before he hit the ground. 

_XXX_

_"What are you doing here?" Tony no longer seemed surprised by Loki's presence, nor wary. It had happened far too often since Loki's disappearance from Central Park and his first reappearance in Tony's penthouse for i t to bother Tony overly much anymore. The God hadn't killed him yet, and he hadn't hurt him either unless you counted a few inappropriately placed touches and those kisses that Tony didn't really want to avoid anyway._

_"I was bored again," Loki told him, offering a casual shrug and a half-quirk of his mouth. "And how are you, mortal mine?"_

_That wasn't the first time in the last two months that Loki had used that phrase, but it was the first time that Tony was actually paying attention enough to hear it. Usually Loki showed up before his first coffee in the morning when Tony was too tired to know his name, or after he had been up 70 something hours in a row working, or worse **while** he was working. This time, Tony was spread out across his couch, with Lilo  & Stitch playing in the background as he worked his way through the Sunday Times puzzle section. _

_"You're blocking my view," Tony groused half-heartedly. "Sit down. I think you'll like this one. Also, since when was I yours?"_

_"You pick now to complain?" Loki moved Tony's feet out of the way long enough to sit down on the end of the couch, and then he placed Tony's feet across his lap. The shoes and socks were removed, and Tony would have protested but it felt very good despite its unexpectedness when Loki started massaging his feet. "You are mine because I claim you as my own, have done for many months now. Never before have you contested my claim, Anthony."_

_"It's Tony," Tony butted in, rolling his eyes without looking away from his newspaper._

_Loki ignored him, ignored the subject completely as Tony seemed not to have anything to say regarding his issue of belonging other than to correct his name. "What it that little blue creature?" Loki's nose wrinkled and his eyes had narrowed and Tony thought it was rather cute, especially considering the pout that was starting to form as people began screaming and running from Stitch._

_"He's a little blue alien. Crash landed on Midgard, caused some trouble, made some friends in the end. Sound familiar?" Tony reached over with one hand, still keeping his eye on the paper, and squeezed gently over one of Loki's knees. "Moral of the story? Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind!"_

_Loki's eyes were still narrowed, but this time fixed upon Tony instead of the television. He wondered how much Tony knew, what Thor had told him, but Loki didn't ask because sometimes it was better to live in ignorance, (as the saying goes, it is bliss). Instead, he watched the film, and if he started sniffling around the time Lilo and her sister repeated the words Tony had said to him back at Stitch? Well, Tony was kind enough (and smart enough) to ignore him, so Loki let the tears fall unashamedly, shifting around slightly to lie down in front of the mortal whose arm draped across Loki's waist. Comfortable and easy, and very, very welcome._

_XXX_

"Wake up, mortal mine," Loki whispered, cold fingers carding through Tony's hair. The human shifted, grounding lightly as his head started to pound, unimpressed about being smacked off the lab's concrete ground earlier. The cot he was on was dirty and lumpy, Tony having meant to replace that mattress a while ago after furious God sex bent the springs out of place, but then he hadn't, so. He supposed he'd have to make do; it wasn't like he slept much lately anyway. Not without Loki around, he was too busy trying to bring Loki back somehow and--

And Loki. Loki had spoken to him. 

Tony's eyes snapped open. Brown eyes met the green visor of the suit Tony had built, the edges rimmed in gold. The brown blinked, but the green did not. There was a short flash of green, lighting up and then dimming back to normal: the robot equivalent of a blink. 

"Loki?" Tony whispered, awe struck and unbelievably nervous. Hopeful and desperate at the same time as he was terrified. 

"No, mortal mine," the machine whispered in Loki's voice as he bent down to press a cold kiss against Tony's forehead, the metal of his face plate hard and uncomfortable. "I am Ultron-5. And you are my creator." 

_XXX_

_The scanner beeped wildly as Tony walked around Loki in a slow circle, scanner held out in front of him until it was almost touching the God, but not quite. The screen displayed a variation of numbers, codes and equations that Tony had worked out with Loki over the past seven months to turn magic into a science that he did very well understand (fuck you very much, Arthur C. Clarke). These were the finishing touches, the last few scans and exams and prodding and poking that Loki so detested but put up with because Tony always got down on his knees afterwards to suck his cock with gusto in thanks._

_"Why is this necessary?" Loki moaned for the nth time that evening. He was in a bad mood because despite no one but Tony being able to see him on his dream-walking holidays away from Asgard's dungeon, Tony had still made him hide when Clint and Natasha had called over that morning to 'check up on Tony' and then proceeded to invite themselves to stay. Their morning sex had been interrupted, the breakfast that Loki was planning to cook in return for more sex had been put on hold, and when the assassins had finally taken the hint and left, Tony wanted to **work**! _

_"You know why!" Tony chuckled, waving the scanner one last time right in front of Loki's face to make his eyes go cross-eyed trying to keep track of it. "Never gets old," he teased, dropping the scanner onto the table before leaning forward on his tip-toes to brush his lips against Loki's in apology. "You know I love you, babe, don't frown."_

_"You are lucky I love you also, mortal mine," Loki replied coldly.. Despite his tone of voice, Tony knew he meant the I love you part, and his eyes were bright with mirth as he spoke so Tony didn't take it personally._

_"If anything happens, I want to be able to help you, or you know, find you or whatever. Cause you're stuck with me you know. You can't leave, I mean, I guess if you really want to but-"_

_"I would never want to," Loki promised softly. His hands curled around Tony's shoulders, and he pulled the man away from the desk he had been standing in front of and around to face him. When they kissed it was messy and violent and Tony's lip was left bleeding, but his heart pounded furiously in his chest and the look on Loki's face as he starred at Tony made the mortal want to cry. He'd never been looked at like that, worshiped yes, body and mind, but to have someone so wholly devoted to him was new. And wonderful. And Tony never wanted to let him go._

_XXX_

Tony Stark wasn't someone who fainted. He just wasn't. Ok, occasionally he lost consciousness, like the time his own bomb shiska-bobbed his chest and that time Yinsen had to file down some of his ribs to fit in the first arc reactor, but he didn't _faint_. 

"You fainted," the mechanical voice informed him, as his eyes fluttered open, heavy and itching as he blinked repeatedly. 

"Did not," Tony groused, his reply automatic and petulant. It was the way he would have responded to Rhodey or Pepper, Bruce, Steve or Loki. But not how he should have responded to Ultron-5 apparently, because the robot's cold fingers were digging in to the flesh of Tony's upper arms, pulling the man upright until he had little choice but to meet the green visor of what should have been Loki's face. 

" _You fainted_ ," Ultron repeated firmly, giving Tony a small shake to emphasize, "And I cared for you until you woke."

"Ok, ok!" Tony tried to shove Ultron but the robot refused to budge. If anything, he held tighter, fingers leaving bruises almost instantly from their force. "Loki, that hurts!"

"I am not Loki. I am Ultron-5," the creation repeated. If it were possible for inanimate objects to get annoyed, Tony might have thought Ultron was pissed. "You shall not speak of this _Loki_ ," it spat out the name like it was poison and Tony flinched, "again, is that understood, creator mine?" It was so much like how Loki used to say "mortal mine", except not at all the same. When Tony chose to _hear_ what he was listening to, the words were leagues different from Loki's. Loki's had been fond, exasperated at times sure, but wistful, hopeful and loving. Ultron sounded like a car crash in slow motion, each word a grinding of metal that made Tony flinch, the threat that lurked beneath a facade of affection knocking the breath out of him as surely as an air bag to the sternum. There was menace and rage in all of his words, and Tony's mouth fell open as once more he compared himself to Victor Frankenstein. 

Here was his creature. His _monster_. 

And he the monster who'd made him. 

"Sure, Ultron-5," Tony agreed easily, holding up shaking hands in surrender. Fingers uncurled from his biceps and Tony tried not to cringe away as they came up to cup his cheeks. "Whatever you say," Tony whispered, just before the monster kissed him, metal against mouth, and devastating. 

_XXX_

_"My friends," Thor greeted them loudly, with open arms, as he crashed into the roof of Stark Tower. "I would like to feast." He was more subdued than usual, solemn where he should have been boisterous. It didn't stop him from having a good time, or from challenging Steve (who couldn't get drunk) to a competition as to who could hold their liquor better, but when the conversation rolled around to Loki (as it invariably did when Clint was in the room, brainwashed and bitter, side by side with the man who loved the God enough to contemplate jail breaking him from Asgard), Thor flinched. His drink fell out of his hand, crashing and rolling across the wooden floor until it hit Tony's foot, plastic cracked but not broken. They had learnt their lesson about giving Thor breakable glasses._

_"Here you go, Bon Jovi," Tony grabbed the cup off of the floor and tossed it lazily back. "Up your ante, or Steve'll think he's winning.."_

_He had seen the flinch; of course he'd seen the flinch. Tony noticed everything that had something to do with Loki. But, fortunately for him, most of the others didn't. Natasha did, she always noticed, but she kept quiet, narrowing her eyes instead of lashing him with her tongue because fuck knew what she thought Tony had involved himself in. For all Tony knew, Natasha had seen him and invisible Loki fucking like rabbits on the kitchen floor, or alternatively, she thought he was a crazy stalker who wanted to suck Loki's magic from his bones like marrow and use it to take over the world with an army of mutated mice-robots. Sometimes it was better to not know Tony's thoughts; which was why sometimes Tony let them slip. None of the others noticed, and so when Thor, mood completely ruined now, excused himself to rest, Tony followed him._

_"What was that about, big guy? Usually when Loki gets a mention you get all gung-ho about how he can be saved, or was misunderstood. Have you finally thrown in the towel? Planning to stick little bro' in a box and ship him to Timbuktu with a do-not-return label? Going to marry him off to some pretty, rich filly and laugh it up at her expense while he-"_

_"He's dead."_

_"He- he-- what?" It was a testament to how well Thor had gotten use to human behaviour, the lack of reverence or seriousness that most of them exhibited, how Tony was loud of mouth and quick of wit (like Loki) and usually stuck his foot right in after his words had come out. Thor did not get angry, didn't throw Mjolnir at him like he had done to the handful of Æsir who had joked about Loki's death. He was sad, and regretful, and he took a dark sort of pleasure at the shock that washed out Tony's features, making him pale and wan, his lips trembled as he repeated, "What?" to himself under his breath several times._

_"Dead?" Tony repeated; more of an exhalation of breath than an actual word, because Thor with his godly hearing still struggled to hear it. "What?"_

_"My brother died saving my life and that of the Lady Jane. He died a hero." Thor was always going to feel smug about that. Not about Loki's death, no, never that, but that his brother had been a redeemed man when he had passed: that his brother was once more his brother, good and loyal and trustworthy. The Loki he remembered from their childhoods and the Loki he would always remembered in death. "You should warn our comrades not to speak ill of the dead," Thor added, head cocked to one side as Clint's laughter flowed through the closed door._

_"No," Tony agreed softly. His heart hammered in his chest and his lungs hurt. They didn't get enough air on a normal basis, not since the reactor, but now it was like Thor had dropped Mjolnir on his chest and Tony thought he was dying. "No they shouldn't."_

_He didn't faint. But he also didn't say goodbye. Instead, Tony made a beeline to his lab, where he had JARVIS lock it down, trapping them both inside with the rest of the bots and Loki's helmet (liberated from SHIELD and hoarded for far longer than Loki had owned his heart). Thor was gone by the time Tony was forced kicking and screaming and two stone lighter out of his lab by Steve the long-suffering mother-hen. Back to New Mexico or London or where ever the fuck Jane Foster was, alive and well thanks to Loki, but not thankful. Where were Loki's action figures, and Loki's memorial, and Loki him-fucking-self when Tony needed him?_

_Dead. That's where._

_XXX_

Tony inched his way towards the door of the lab, bruises stark against the palour of his skin. Two weeks trapped inside would do that to a person who was used to getting a lot of sun. Ultron-5 had been agreeable, even happy when Tony asked to leave for a business meeting; and then he realized that Tony had meant to leave alone. 

He'd called Pepper himself, voice the same as Tony's; the exact same, even JARVIS couldn't tell them apart. Claimed to be sick, to be tired, depressed, you name it, anything and everything until Pepper eventually called him a liar and hung up, her disappointed sigh the last thing Tony had heard before the click of the dial tone. Ultron-5's hand over his mouth had kept Tony quiet. Now there were bruises on his jaw to match his arms, and his lips were swollen for each attempt Ultron-5 had made to kiss him with a mouth that didn't part like Loki's had. No teeth, or tongue, just metal, cold and crushing as Ultron-5 pulled Tony towards him again and again, pressed into a work bench or the ratty old cot in the corner, metal pelvis grinding against Tony until he started to harden, voice nothing like Loki's, touch nothing like Loki's, but his visor glowed the same green as Loki's magic and Tony couldn't fight him off. So he closed his eyes and accepted it, pretended it was Loki having rescued him from his own creation and wanting to celebrate. And when he woke with bruises and an angry robot, cursing Loki's name and demanding Tony never think of him again, Tony pretended like it was possible, agreed to spare himself more bruises, and crossed his fingers behind his back. 

_XXX_

_"Father!" Thor's voice boomed, loud and echoing. Loki had heard him coming before the guards had even thought to announce him, his footsteps familiar and heavy. Gungnir was also now familiar, it's weight something Loki had only experienced once before, at Frigga's behest, but now it was his, a part of him. And Loki had grown used to it._

_He had grown used to the solitude as well, with no Odin, Frigga or Thor around it was like being imprisoned or banished once more (except in prison, his mother had still come to visit him). It wasn't like the Void either, for there were still beings there that tormented him. And it was certainly nothing like visiting Tony, his spirit present and real while his body languished beneath Asgard's golden halls, the imprisoned Prince, left to rot until Ragnarok come to end them all. Tony had been good and kind and wicked, all in the best meant ways. Interesting and beautiful, wondrous and wondering all at once. Loki was a novelty for him, his magic a curiosity rather than a blemish, something to be cherished and studied, and not shunned._

_Loki found that Tony was the only thing he missed from his old life (other than Frigga, whom he could never have again). But Tony. Tony would be there when Loki was ready, alive and safe and waiting, and when Asgard's armies and Jötunheimr’s armies (which Loki was in the process of procuring) brought the Mad Titan to his knees, Loki would beg Tony's forgiveness for his absence, and offer himself up as to a God and wait. Tony would have him, Loki knew. Tony loved him as much as Loki loved Tony. Time could not change that. And Tony did not know that Loki had supposedly died, so he had no reason to move on; Loki always left for long periods of time, and he always came back. Tony would wait for him._

_"Father, do you- that is to say- was there..." Thor huffed loudly. He had arrived while Loki had been lost in thought, but now Odin's face turned towards his golden son, eyebrows raised and hands folded around the armrests of his mighty throne. "The Man of Iron mourns for my brother. I wondered if perhaps... well they are of a similar sort, and I know that Loki wandered in his imprisonment. I. I worry; it is not like Anthony to care so much for someone who tried to harm his ilk."_

_Loki felt sick. Physically, horribly sick. What had Thor done?!_

_"They were involved," was all Odin said, even as his fingers squeezed and his eyebrows drew together, he kept his voice calm._

_"Anthony cared for Loki." It was a statement, one that Loki knew to be true. "Did Loki likewise... Did my brother love Anthony too?"_

_Loki wanted to answer 'yes', wanted suddenly to admit the whole ruse because now Tony thought he was dead, and that had not been a part of Loki's plans. But he was Odin, and he needed Asgard and Jötunheimr to help him defeat Thanos, to decimate his armies and wipe the blight that was the Mad Titan from the universes before the_ Titan _came looking for_ him _! No army would fight with Loki Liesmith, Loki Traitorson, Loki beloved of no one, not now, not ever for Asgard had cast him out and Jötunheimr had wished he'd never been born, and the mortals would stand no chance even if Loki could get them to believe him. He needed to be Odin, because all races would go to war for the War-Wolf. Women and children would take up arms to please Thor Odinson, if he asked them to. Even Frigga could rouse the masses far more effectively than Loki ever could._

_So, instead of being truthful, he uttered another lie (and one potential truth). "It matters not, my son, Loki is dead. The mortal will soon forget about him."_

_XXX_

When Tony didn't turn up, despite a nationwide alarm being sounded, the national guard having been called in and even Thor showing his face, three men and Xena the Warrior Princess in tow hot off of the Asgard rainbow express, even Natasha got worried. Natasha had worked with Tony before, back when she was Natalie and he was 'boss'. She knew how he could get when he was working, how he could lose track of time and bodily functions, how food became less important than 'eureka!', how nothing mattered when he was lost in that void until he was suddenly ripped from it; shaken and shocked, like a newborn child thrust into the cold harsh light of day, and suddenly it would all catch up to him. And Tony would sleep for days. 

Natasha knew what he was like, she remembered. 

But even this was too much. 

Pepper had come, with Rescue gleaming and gold and tight against her skin; armour made just for her. It was beautiful and strong and perfect and Tony had been so proud the first time Pepper had worn it. He never missed a chance to see Rescue in action. War Machine had come too, hanging back, head turning left then right and back again as he failed to spot Iron Man. With numbers such as theirs, the threat was easily taken care of, and then they went to celebrate. It was a tradition of theirs, started by Tony. Fighting first, and then food (and probably fucking later knowing Stark). But Tony still didn't turn up. 

With a worried crease between her eyebrows, Natasha rang the Tower. JARVIS answered, calm and cool and when he patched the call through to Tony, he was even cooler. "What do you want?"

"Stark? You doing ok?" She asked slowly, careful not to sound as concerned as she felt. There was a muffled noise in the background, followed by the sound of metal hitting something organic. 

Tony gave a shout; it sounded fake. "Sorry, dropped something on my toe." There was a crackle at the end of the last word, like a computer game glitching, wanting to do something but not having the proper code for it. The way JARVIS sometimes didn't understand one of Clint's references, had to take a moment to trawl the internet and re-write his own code to include that new information (though only Tony was aware of that last part), or the way DUM-E wanted to play games but couldn't be taught new ones without Tony first updating his server, or U who had been programmed to use the fire extinguisher when Tony was developing the Mark II and was never programmed back so always greeted visitors to Tony's labs with a spray of foam to the face because that was what his code told him to do. It was odd of Tony to sound like he didn't know what a toe was, because he stubbed his all the time and could often be heard shouting about it. 

But another muffled noise drew Natasha's attention away from that train of thought. She frowned deeply, lips pursing, and she drew the phone away from her ear to stare at it like that might answer some of her unasked questions. 

"Ok bye," Tony said, and there was another smack of metal against something that sounded like it hurt before the phone cut off. 

"Has anyone seen Tony recently?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder at Clint who was lagging behind her, ankle swollen and sore. The others were ahead, having picked a restaurant already and hungry enough to make a move on it. She slowed down so Clint could keep up, and between them they discussed whether it really was weird or if Tony had managed to get under Natasha's defences and so she was worrying unnecessarily. 

"No one's seen him since Steve dragged him out of the lab. Little after Thor's last visit to the Tower. He hasn't come up for air, but JARVIS has food brought down so he must be fine, right?" Clint shrugged, casually brushing off Tony's disappearance, because Tony Stark disappeared a lot. "I'll invite him to my floor for a drink tonight. He'll crawl out of his batcave for that, I promise, Nat."

Tony didn't come for that drink, or the one Thor offered, or the one Rhodey insisted upon. After the third person who asked, JARVIS stopped patching them through. He wouldn't open the lab door for Steve either, Ultron-5 having re-written his code; no one could go in or out without Ultron-5 beside them unless Anthony Stark said so. Unfortunately, Ultron-5 sounded just like Anthony Stark nowadays. 

_XXX_

_"If I died, would you miss me?" Tony asked. His voice was soft and his breathing calm, so Loki didn't jump out of the bed in a panic like he wanted to. Instead, he settled back against the pillows, wiggling to make himself more comfortable, and he tugged Tony down out of his half-lounging position to lie against his chest._

_"Yes." Loki said, as sure as it was night outside the blacked out windows of Tony's bedroom. "So don't die, mortal mine."_

_"I'd miss you if you died, you know. So don't die either, ok?"_

_"Deal." Loki allowed himself a small smile, before he dipped his head to kiss the top of Tony's own. "Though I'm sure I could barter with my daughter to allow me access to your soul. Should you die, I'll-- what's the phrase? Bring you back and kill you myself? But," he grinned now, wide and feral and teasing, "perhaps I'll simply make you wish you were dead and keep you with me for eternity instead?"_

_"I like that plan," Tony answered. He tilted his head back to peer up at Loki's chin, and stretched his neck to try and kiss it. Failing that, he turned to kiss the God's collarbone instead. Completely not threatened, he added, "Let's do that. And if you die, I'll figure something out, but it might take longer and I won't live as long. So just don't, ok."_

_Flinching at the reminder of Tony's mortal lifespan, Loki's arms tightened around his chest and waist, encircling his human like a constrictor before burying his face in his hair. Surrounded by the scent and warmth and weight of Tony, Loki fell asleep, and Tony thought about magic and eternity and how he might possibly be able to build Loki a new body if Loki could find a way to keep his magic - his soul - intact after death._

_XXX_

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Steve wrung his hands in front of his groin, stopping to pull at the string of his sweatpants that had somehow tucked itself underneath the waistband. "Tony won't like this. He wants us out for a reason."

"Tony is, for some stupid reason, grieving over Loki. Don't ask why or how or what the fuck cause I don't know," Rhodey answered with a scowl, "but this started after Thor said Loki was dead. So it's gotta have something to do with the tricky bastard. Tony's not thinking straight, and he's been down there for a month. That’s not right. It’s not good for him to be alone that long, with those kind of emotions."

Clint would be the first person to say he hated Loki, and when he heard Rhodey and Thor's theory he wanted to say he hated Tony too, because dammit that was his friend. And he'd picked that bastard over the Avengers? But yeah, a month was a long time to be alone for, locked up in a cold, sterile place; even Clint felt sorry for Tony, a little. Ok so he chose to be there, but well, you can't choose who you love either, the archer figured. It sucked, but that was life. And Tony was his friend, and he shouldn't have to suffer the shittiness of life (and death) all alone, not when he had Clint and several bottles of Macallan waiting in the real world for him. 

"Let's drag him out kicking and screaming, then," Clint butted in before Steve could respond. "Wouldn't want to leave him alone with his brand of crazy would you, Cap? Security risk, and all that." He wasn't even joking. Fuck knew what Tony could get up to when left alone for long periods of time: three months in a cave had built him a nuclear powerhouse, miniaturized and shoved into his chest AND a revolutionary suit of armour that was more of a weapon than most anything Stark Industries had created in the run up. That was with a few boxes of scraps, but here, Tony had access to anything and everything he wanted, and Clint was sure there had been iridium in that last delivery JARVIS had placed. 

_XXX_

_"Do you ever want to go home?" Loki looked at him blankly. "I mean, back when it was home. Forget everything bad that's happened since, and just be... happy, ignorant I guess? Sometimes I think I'd like that, and then I remember what I used to be like and I'm terrified of waking up to find all of this has been a dream. The good, the bad? It's shaped me, you know."_

_"I know." Loki whispered as he stood up. He brushed himself down, grit and moss sticking to his clothes stubbornly. The roof was flat and quiet, carpeted in small flowers and leaves, a man-made garden that Loki had discovered quite by accident. There was a roof of starlight over them, and a picnic blanket kept most of the bugs away from them, and the owners of the building never even knew they were there. It was peaceful and beautiful and it was the closest to nature that Tony Stark was ever going to get, but he looked beautiful nonetheless, spread out naked beneath Loki's hungry gaze._

_"Do you miss it?"_

_"No. I have you now." His answer was simple and sure. The smile Tony offered him in return could shame the sun; it was wide and pure and honest, brighter than the light of the stars and the moon put together, and it made Loki's heart beat fiercely in his chest: the ‘I love you’ going unsaid between them, but heard regardless._

_"Yeah, me too," Tony agreed, lazily lifting his arm to wave Loki back down beside him._

_XXX_

Tony was asleep when Natasha managed to disable the main arc reactor from JARVIS' servers. The labs doors slid easily open for them after that, a crowbar between them to inch them apart until Thor and Steve could get their hands in between the doors to pull. It hissed as it opened; having been closed for so long, it was stiff (but not rusty, nothing in Stark Tower ever rusted). 

The lab was dark and quiet, and there was Tony sleeping on the couch with an arm over his eyes and a horrible green and yellow bruise across his jaw. He looked like he'd been punched quite a few times, when in fact the bruising was because of Ultron-5's attempts at kissing him. A faceplate was face up on Tony's stomach, his free hand loosely over it, keeping it from falling but not really holding it. There was a mouth on this one, hinges that separated like a knight's helmet, and Ultron-5 wanted it done and done soon. He was powered down in the corner, recharging and updating after he had made Tony fit the iridium into his core along with the arc-tech; bruises on Tony's back from being slammed into walls until he agreed hidden by his clothes. Tony slept because Ultron-5 did, but he was such a light sleeper when he was sober that he'd wake, pretending to work on the faceplate before the green visor fully lit up. 

"Tony?" Natasha whispered, as she inched closer to him. 

Thor had Mjölnir and Steve had his shield, because they weren't sure of their reception (if Tony attacked them with his suits they wanted to be able to defend themselves) but Natasha and Clint were unarmed. Tony wouldn't attack them, they knew, but Natasha suspected that something else might (Loki, she thought it was Loki, keeping Tony trapped in the lab and Clint agreed that something was keeping him there alright. Their guesses were close, in all fairness, and Tony would have been amused if he had known). Bruce hung back in the doorway, hands twisting into the fabric of his pants as he tried not to breathe in the smell of dust and unwashed human and dirty plates: at least Tony was eating the food instead of letting it rot. There was a cot and a couch and a toilet, but no shower in the lab, and Tony had been making do with a bucket of soapy warm water and Ultron-5's attempts at playing nurse. It made Bruce feel (and look) green around the gills every time his eyes drifted towards that corner. 

"Tony?" Natasha called again. This time Tony's eyes were open, fixed on her face as he stared silently at her. He didn't speak, because his jaw hurt and his throat hurt and he was afraid that Ultron-5 had reprogrammed JARVIS to wake him when Tony woke. Instead, he used sign language. Carefully, without letting the faceplate hit the ground, Tony signed one word:

_Help_. 

_XXX_

_The first test had gone spectacularly bad. Ultron-1 had been a failure of the colossal sort. If they gave out Nobel Prizes for failure, Tony would have won._

_The suit hadn't even powered on, which was a first because everything Tony had built whether it worked or didn't work according to design at least turned on. This just sat there, a useless lump of metal and titanium, arc reactor dull in its chest and visor black. All systems unresponsive, as JARVIS had helpfully stated._

_Ultron-2 had exploded. Arc reactor overcharged and suit under-ready, and bits of metal like shrapnel had flown all around the lab. Tony had hunkered down beneath his desk, panting and whining like a beaten dog, memories of Afghanistan too much for him to handle on top of everything else, and he cried, horrid heaving sobs that left his face wet and his nose running. He screamed when DUM-E wheeled towards him to sweep up the scattered remains of Ultron-2 that had landed by his feet and on the workbench he was under, and then he cried some more, because he was pathetic and lonely and he had_ failed _._

_When Tony finally managed to compose himself, he began working on Ultron-3. It was slightly more successful, but Ultron-3 sounded and acted like JARVIS. He was supposed to be Loki, but at least he hadn't blown up this time, Tony figured. He could improve it. He could make it better. Anything had to be better than not having Loki with him at all._

_A few tweaks here and there, and a long phone argument with Doctor Foster about her handing over her Asgardian based research from that time she actually_ went _to Asgard (with her refusing and then Tony having JARVIS 'liberate' it anyway) resulted in Ultron-4 being, not quite born, but close enough. Tony had cackled when the visor had lit up in green, the same colour of Loki's magic, swirling behind the fibre-optic glass, the tiny barely discernible runes on the surface, meant to channel Loki's magic, were suddenly blatantly visible for ten seconds before they dimmed. Ultron-4 moved like Loki, with a semi-swagger to its heavy, awkward gait, but in time and with some adjustments, that would even out. Tony could fix that too. But the voice was still wrong._

_Ultron-5 sounded just like Loki._

_Ultron-5 had been a success. The first success Tony had achieved since Loki had left him--- had died._

_Tony had JARVIS hit the power, and the suit shifted, right leg twitching and the fingers of the left hand clenching into a fist before relaxing. The visor had been dark, but it lit up now, in green and gold, casting a shadow across the pale gold vibranium face plate. Its speakers activated, with a hiss and a creak of new metal wearing in, snapped shut and then opened again, smoother this time. "Hello mortal mine," it said, in a voice that sounded just like Loki's._

_But Ultron-5 was nothing like Loki. It was cruel and cold, bitter and jealous (a little like Loki, Tony conceded), but it hoarded Tony in his lab like a dragon defending its gold. Tony hadn't left the lab in a month, not since Ultron-5 had woken and realised that Tony hadn't wanted_ him _: Tony had wanted him to_ be Loki _instead. Tony had more bruises than he could remember having at any one point in his life, all at the same time and they hurt and there was no Loki now willing to heal them. His throat was sore, his jaw was sore; Ultron-5's attempts at kissing left much to be desired. Unfortunately, he kept trying (and Tony had stopped trying to dissuade him, sick of having his arms pinned at his sides or his throat squeezed until he was gasping for breath, mouth open for Ultron-5 to press his faceplate against and feel Tony's tongue: to pretend they were kissing, the way Loki had always kissed him.)_

_Ultron-5 had taken over his life. He was the ultimate femme fatale, a bunny boiler and that crazy ex your family always said would try and kill you all rolled into one. And none of his friends had come looking for Tony yet._

_Ultron-5 was Tony's biggest failure._

_XXX_

"What the fuck was that?" Clint less than eloquent question was exactly what was on all of their minds. Thor's hammer has left an indent on the floor of Tony's lab; chunks of cement that had flown up on impact were scattered here and there intermittent with pieces of what used to be Ultron-5. Steve's shield was embedded in a wall to the left, Ultron-5's left gauntlet smashed in there somewhere too, wires fizzing from the end of his severed arm, tossed to the right by the Hulk. Natasha and Clint were back to back in the lab, standing in front of Tony who was still sprawled on the couch, with their fists raised and knees bent. 

Tony watched them with wide eyes, fingers clenched tight around the edges of the new, unfinished faceplate: so tight his fingers had started to bleed in some places, metal digging in unforgiving and sharp. He didn't call for JARVIS and he couldn't call one of his suits because Ultron-5's first response to their presence had been to manually shut them down. Tony would have to rebuild the charging station from scratch, and probably recalibrate it to JARVIS' new Tony's-voice-only speech recognition software (that he was going to get to work on as soon as he'd had a cheeseburger, or six). 

"So, uh that was Ultron Five." Tony cleared his throat twice before he attempted to speak again, licking his lips nervously as he looked between each of the expectant faces before him. "Thank guys. I was starting to think you'd never come, so, uh, thanks. For coming, for me, I mean." 

Steve's arms were around his shoulders suddenly, squeezing Tony against his chest. Sobs started somewhere low in his chest, a gasp and a rumble of his diaphragm and suddenly there were tears pouring over his cheeks, eyes red and lips trembling, and Tony couldn't make it stop. He heard Clint say something about Skynet and Thor remark on the magic Ultron-5 had fought them with being similar to his brother's, but Tony didn't care. He wrapped his arms under Steve's own, around his chest, and clung tightly to his friend as he cried. The Soldier in turn comforted him, one hand rubbing circles on his back and the other on the back of his head, fingers just about digging in to his hair, holding Tony's head, face pressed to the junction between neck and shoulder, and he whispered, "It is ok. I have you. We have you," until Tony stopped crying. 

_XXX_

_There was a rustle of clothes from behind the couch, a soft gasp followed by a louder one. Thor knew he wasn't supposed to enter Tony's penthouse without asking, but the balcony door was open and either way the roof fire escape led there. Thor figured his friend wouldn't mind, would understand the need not to fly to the street below and wait 80 floors in the tiny cramped lift with the terrible music.. It was a metal death trap, and Thor preferred to fly himself than to trust in the invisible servant who pulled the contraption up and up each floor._

_"Are you well, friend Stark?" Thor asked, running like a child to jump up onto the sofa and hang over the back. He stared down at Tony with a wide grin, expecting something of an indecent nature to be occurring. But there was nothing of the sort._

_Instead, Tony lay across the ground fully dressed, rubbing at his head. There was a chuckle, familiar to Thor as if he had heard it many times previously but not in such a long time that he had forgotten all about it. It was not Tony's laugh, but another's, who stood beside the couch (whom Thor had completely overlooked)._

_He was tall and dark haired, with wide blue eyes and his pink lips pulled up into a familiar smirk. There was something same about the man, and Thor couldn't take his eyes off of him._ Brother? _He thought, hopefully and yet warily. Loki should have been in Asgard's dungeons, should have been locked up (was locked up) and yet, here was a man so like him, so happy, laughing and smiling and Thor wanted that for his brother more than he wanted Loki punished._

_"Thanks for shoving me off the couch, asshole," Tony muttered only half-angry. He waved at Thor in greeting, but his eyes never left the stranger. "You just wait. You've got to sleep sometime."_

_The stranger laughed again, turning his back on them both to walk out of the room. He went towards the kitchenette, and Thor followed; suspicious because Loki could change shape and appearance and maybe this was Loki? But there was no one in the kitchen, or in the bathroom, or the living room or the bedroom on that floor. JARVIS told Thor that there had been no visitors when Thor asked, and Tony had only shrugged and insisted that he had been sleeping up until Thor woke him so how would he know? It was a lie, obviously a lie, but with JARVIS backing his master up Thor didn't push it. Instead, he went to the roof, called for Heimdallr and went back to Asgard to check that his brother was still in the dungeons._

_Loki waited there for Thor. Watched Thor watch him without speaking, without blinking; his scowl firmly in place. When Thor had gone, Loki lay back on his cot, closed his eyes and allowed his consciousness to slip from his body, to travel the secret paths between worlds, until he landed right between the waiting arms of Tony Stark._

_"That was close," Tony whispered as he pressed his lips to Loki's, allowing the God to feel the shape of each word as their mouths moved together._

_"That was nothing," Loki snorted, sounding almost fond, "you should hear about the time Thor almost caught me bedding his wife. Now that was close!"_

_Tony turned wide, almost disbelieving, eyes on his lover. There was something somewhat jealous that flashed briefly in them, but it was drowned out by curiosity. Always so curious, his mortal was, Loki thought._

_"Do tell," Tony insisted, smirking and interested. And Loki told him, of that time and several other times Thor almost caught him doing something he shouldn't. And of times Thor did catch him, and those times he took the blame and the times he blamed Loki for things that Thor had done in return. "Wouldn't Heimdallr have told on you though?"_

_"Heimdallr can only speak of matters that are of State importance or if he is outright asked, say for example, did Loki fuck my wife, Sif," Loki explained._

_They lay face to face on the couch, Loki with his back facing the television, held in place by Tony's arms around his waist. "So if we have sex on the roof right now Heimdallr might see? But he can't say anything about it?"_

_"Unless asked," Loki confirmed. He grinned then, sly and mischievous. "And if we call his name he'll have no choice but to see."_

_"I like the way your dirty, dirty mind works, gorgeous."_

_"Of course you do," Loki agreed, before he teleported them both to the roof. Naked._

_XXX_

Asgard was quiet and cold that night. Thor found his father in what had used to be his mother's garden, but now was just one more garden in the collection of royal gardens surrounding the palace. Odin was hunched over, old and tired looking, with his hands closed around a plant that Thor couldn't identify. He was on his knees in the dirt, planting. 

"Father?" Thor asked, concerned. But the old King just smiled softly at him, patted down the soil around that new plant and then rose to his feet without assistance. "I would like to speak more of Loki's lover with you, if I may? I'm afraid he might have done something... dangerous."

"Oh?" Odin asked, sounding unconcerned. Inside, behind the calm facade and the face that wasn't his, Loki was silently screaming for more information, needing to know what had happened, needing to hear if Tony was safe. 

"He tried to build Loki. He made a suit, like the Destroyer," Thor explained, as Odin of course wouldn't know what an Iron Man was. Loki did, Loki knew, and he winced at the comparison, because Tony wasn't a destroyer: he was a creator. "It had Loki's magic and his voice, but it, it hurt him. I know Loki was not himself these last years, but I do not believe him capable of hurting someone he cared for, or loved, Friend Stark was not sure on that matter, but I am certain my brother loved him. He must have, to have been there so often, for Anthony to grieve for him so. But,” Pausing to clear his throat, voice tight as he continued, “The creation hurt him." 

Thor inhaled deeply, steeling himself for a conversation he could see his father wasn’t interested in. Thor was frowning and his eyebrows had drawn together over watery eyes, whereas Odin only stared at him blankly, picking dirt from beneath his nails. He wrinkled his nose, forcing himself not to cry or break something, as he stared at his father, hoping for some word of wisdom. "I believe Loki loved Anthony, and I do not believe Loki would have hurt him, no matter his other crimes. Surely, surely the creation if it were Loki would not have hurt him either? Father, I don't understand."

"It was not your brother. You brother is dead Thor, and no machine whether it be made of metal or hidden beneath an organic hide can become him. Perhaps, with Asgard's advanced technology, your friend might have succeeded in melding Loki's spirit with the machine as he managed to merge Loki's magic," Odin said gravely. Silently, he added, it would help if Loki was actually dead. "But he has not succeeded. It is not Loki, and it never will be. Do not fear, my son, I too do not believe Loki capable of causing hurt to one he loved." And Loki did love Tony, though he had never said it; Loki loved him very much. 

"Then I fear what might become of the creation. We destroyed it, brought Friend Stark to receive medical attention and when we returned to dispose of the creature not one piece of it was still there. Anthony did not remove it, nor did I. The rest of the team denies involvement and we could not check with the Sky Spirit JARVIS until this morning as the creation had damaged JARVIS somehow. Friend Stark has fixed the problem, but none of his other creations removed the monster from his work shop."

"Where did it go?" Odin asked, hands clenching at his side. He no longer look impassive or uninterested and the longer Thor delayed in his response the closer Odin got to him, until they were standing almost nose to nose and Odin’s hands were curled like claws over his son’s shoulders. He squeezed tightly, as if to force an answer from his son. 

“We do not know. I see not how it would be able, but Friend Tony is certain the creature will return.”

_XXX_

**It was cold and dark and horrible. It was hard and slow and painful. It was terrifying and spinning and falling and flying all at once. It was like the Void between worlds, like the darkness that had crept into his mind years ago. It was all and nothing and anything in between. He wasn’t sure. He didn’t know, but he _knew_. **

**He was Ultron-6.**

**And he had a Creator. His mortal. His Tony.**

**His.**

**But he was gone. Gone somewhere else. Gone with them, away from him, those humans who had taken him- taken him to Loki? Loki who should be gone. Who was gone, but always there like a curse upon them, a shadow falling over Ultron-5. But no more, for he was Ultron-6 now. Now, he was darker and deeper and better, stronger, taller, smarter: everything he never was. Iridium was heavy within him and magic coated the outside of him and he made himself from the ground up with vibranium and adamantium and the faceplate that Tony had made him but not had the chance to fit him with. His mouth opened and closed, and he breathed in all the world around him, sucked it in and spit it out again, in and out and in and out, down into his lungs of metal and code and back out of his brand new mouth and he thought about building himself a tongue. For talking and kissing and wondered if it would make him _taste_ sweat and tears if he licked it off of Tony’s skin. **

**But first. He had to find his mortal mine.**

**And kill the Avengers.**

_XXX_

_It was raining lightly the day Loki never came back. Just a drizzle, but enough to soak you through if you stood in it long enough. Tony waited, with his elbows on the balcony railing and one knee tucked between the bars. He stared up at the sky, eyebrows furrowed, because Loki never usually took this long, and he watched and he waited and in the background CNN played on repeat. Aliens in London, spaceships in London, Thor in London-- **Loki** in London? But no, no Loki anywhere, especially not in Stark Tower, or Avengers Tower, or whatever Fury was planning to call it from now on. It was Tony and Loki's if it was anyone's (and 12% of it was Pepper's); but since the Avengers were apparently going to move in (as soon as Cap came to terms with it and Natasha re-emerged from whatever hole she'd hidden in and Barton was cleared by the Psych doc), Fury felt a new name was owed. _

_It didn't matter, not if Loki didn't come back. Even then, Tony doubted he and Rogers could live in the same place and not kill one another, so it was probably just another one of Fury's baseless threats, meant to keep Tony on the straight and narrow. The Tower would be his and Loki's, Pepper's, Happy’s, Rhodey’s, his bots and JARVIS', and no one else's. **If** Loki came back. _

_"Where are you?" Tony asked the sky. He had seen Loki stare at the stars and speak to them occasionally, he'd use names like Frigga and Sigyn, but never Heimdallr who was the one that was supposed to be able to hear and see you if you spoke to the sky like a lunatic. Often when Loki spoke, no one answered. No one answered Tony either._

_In the living room, JARVIS switched the TV channel. Sky News was broadcasting live from what was left of Greenwich University. Thor's girlfriend and her assistant were right in the centre of the chaos, with Dr Selvig and another person Tony had never seen before. But still no Loki, so with a wave of Tony's hand in permission, JARVIS switched it off._

_XXX_

"Have you considered that maybe you cleaned it up while you were concussed and just forgot about it?" Clint, the asshole, suggested. He sounded sceptical, and his eyes were narrowed and his jaw tensed (the way he always looked when he knew he was going out on a limb). Tony rolled his eyes in response, because no, he hadn't cleaned Ultron-5's remains up when he was concussed. He had been forced into the shower and then into bed by Bruce, who had been three shakes from turning mean and green on his ass by the time Tony fell asleep without supper. Ultron-5 had cleaned himself up, but no one was listening to Tony’s opinion. 

Sure, they listened, but they weren't hearing what Tony was saying. Loki's magic (not Loki, it hadn't been Loki, it _couldn’t have been Loki_ ) had mutated Ultron-5's code enough that the suit was self-healing, almost indestructible: like Loki had been. Tearing it apart hadn't been enough to kill it; Tony couldn't think of anything that might have been enough to kill Loki (didn't want to think about it, didn't want to imagine it, couldn't stand the thought of it) after watching him survive the Hulk and an exploding arrow to the face. What could possibly be enough to destroy Tony's creation? 

"Maybe one of the Stark Industries employees cleaned it up?" Steve tried to sound optimistic, but it fell a little flat given the way he was frowning, heavy lines along his forehead and deep creases around his mouth, so hard, like it was a sport he was trying to win. Concentrate, frown, flash wide blue eyes at Tony hopefully, concentrate, frown, rinse and repeat. 

"Nah," Tony brushed the suggestion off casually. "Employees aren't allowed on this floor. No way it was one of them." Anyway, Tony thought a little snidely, he had told them what had happened to Ultron-5. Not his fault no one wanted to believe him. But Tony would take care of it, he just had to upgrade JARVIS, upgrade his servers and controls and the power hub; make sure no one else could tell JARVIS what to do but him ever again; make sure nothing could ever lock him in his own lab again, or lock him up anywhere else for that matter: never again. He had to recalibrate the perimeter security (his tech and Loki's magic intermingled together to create a force-field that was almost impenetrable, except by Doom that magic wielding asshat, but that Loki insisted was a dome of pure magical energy keyed to Tony's 'essence' and those he considered friends), which meant reprogramming JARVIS and the force-field to believe Loki was no longer considered to be safe or trusted. It was the only way to keep Ultron-5 out, if he tried to come back: they had to keep Loki out too. 

It didn't matter, Tony told himself as he snuck out of the living room, leaving the others to their argument. Loki was dead, so it wasn't like he could come back anyway. It wasn't like Tony was Mrs Darling, closing the window on Wendy, John and Michael, and leaving them out in the cold, unwelcome. Loki wouldn't be coming back, but Ultron-5 might be. _That_ was more important than whether or not Loki's feelings might have been hurt. 

"JARVIS, pull up the specs. Let's do this before I pussy out," Tony ordered, and as he worked he ignored the shaking of his hands and fingers, and the sickening curl in his stomach once he was done and he had pressed 'Enter' twice. 

From the outside, the Tower lit up green, like there were suddenly lights all around its base glowing against the white walls and the glass windows. When the green faded, there was the faintest hint of red left in its place. Tony's code, Tony's signature colour; created to replace the glow of Loki's magic that had been there from shortly after Loki's arrest, from the time the God had decided that this mortal was his (before he had loved him and wanted only to sate his curiosity, telling himself only _he_ could kill the annoying engineer), it's protective qualities still written into the DNA of the Tower, curled around each strand of code and each piece of tech. Its purpose remained intact. 

But instead of how it was, when Loki was friend and lover, now the Tower itself understood one thing only when it concerned the trickster God: enemy. 

"Goodbye," Tony whispered, staring once more at the sky. No one answered him; he had stopped hoping at this point. Tony knew he was never going to get an answer from Asgard. 

Only this time, someone _was_ watching him. 

_XXX_

**It was dark still, and cold. Empty. He was empty and alone and there was something missing.**

**What was it? Breath? Heart? Lungs? No. Ultron-6 needed none of those things.**

**Creator?**

**Yes, creator was missing.**

**Ultron-6 stood outside of Stark Tower, the place of his birth, and he stared up and up and up until he could read the sole letter that remained hanging from the balcony of Tony's penthouse suit: A.**

**A for Avengers or A for Anthony?**

**The place of his birth, and his first death; the place he had escaped from, legs mangled and arms carried in his chest cavity, the wires crackling as they brushed together, face plate torn clean off and dangling from one long finger, staring mournfully behind himself as Ultron-5 had crawled in pieces to safety.**

**He was whole again now, and stronger. Better. But cold still, and empty.**

**Something else was missing. Something else other than Anthony Stark.**

**The Tower was glowing a soft shade of red, barely discernible, but Ultron-6 could see it. It was bright when his visor settled upon it, bright and red and wrong. Wasn't it green when he had left? Had he changed too much of himself when he was reborn, or had Anthony changed something else in his absence? What was missing?**

**Ultron-6 reached out with fingers that had been burnt before, once trusting but now wary. He reached for the door handle first, wanting to test it: better to be rebuffed by Anthony's security now and force his way inside than to be blown out of the sky later. Magic crackled around the gauntlet, testing at its owner behalf, but the red force-field ignited at the first touch and an alarm began to blare.**

**It was loud and piercing and if Ultron-6 had ears, he would have had to cover them up with his hands pressed tight to his head. Inside, employees ran for cover and security reached for their weapons and the Avengers practically pushed one another out of the way to be the first on the scene: as long as they beat Iron Man there it would be fine.**

**Ultron-6 reared back as if struck. The faceplate he had now was hinged at the jaw, and it dropped open, like a mouth falling open in shock, as his visor turned from emerald to a deep, dark forest green. Magic curled around the gauntlet's finger tips, green and angry and ready to be utilised. Ready to avenge its owner.**

**He had found what was missing. Anthony was missing, but more than that, it was more than just his creator's absence for Ultron-6 had returned to his home. It was that he no longer had a home.**

_XXX_

Odin, to all who might have been watching, appeared old and weak and tired. He slumped in his throne, legs spread and Gungnir propped between them, one hand on the spear and one holding his head up, elbow on one armrest. His beard and hair had long since turned white, no hint of grey or its original red left behind. One eye was covered by a golden eye patch and the other was a sad, watery blue-grey. There were wrinkles around it that time would only add to, lines around his frowning mouth as well, and around his nose. His jaw sagged a little underneath, and hair grew out of his ears as they did from all old men’s ears. He looked downtrodden and world weary, tired and defeated, like a beaten dog that couldn't sleep because it was afraid to relax. But he didn't look afraid. 

Loki, on the other hand, was terrified. He didn't look it, of course, for he looked like Odin; but he had never felt more afraid in his long life. He watched from Hlidskjalf, the seat of the nine realms, the eye through which all of the worlds could be seen: one hand drummed its fingers against the throne's arm rest and the other kept a white-knuckled grip on Gungnir, clenching and unclenching periodically as he searched. His eyes skimmed all of Midgard, but Loki could not see him. 

Tony Stark was hidden from his sight, and the thought terrified him. How could he have hidden himself? Why would he have hidden himself from Loki, if he believed Loki to be dead? And worse, what if he hadn't, what if something worse had happened - the worst thing that could happen: Tony Stark was dead. Was he, could he be? No, no Loki could not bear it to be so, and so he kept looking. 

There was the Tower, and the Avengers and-- the Destroyer? It was tall and strong and deadly, like its counterpart, but it was gold and green and glowed with magic that was too similar to Loki's own (rather than Odin's). Not the Destroyer then; something else, something _other_. Could it be, Loki thought, that this was the creation Thor spoke of, the construct built to replace Loki in Tony's life? If it was, it was doing a poor job of it, for there it went, flying into the side of Stark Tower with a crash, thrown by the giant hands of the Hulk and a roar that might have made Loki tremble in fear if he hadn't been then distracted by something else. A blur of red and gold, of fire and heat and brilliant, brilliant light: a repulsor shot, from the gauntlet of Iron Man straight into Ultron-6's face. AC/DC blasted from the speakers mounted on his shoulder guards, and Tony hummed along, before singing the lyrics that fit with that particular refrain from 'Cold Hearted Man': 

_Everybody prayed_  
For their lives on the street  
Where they happened to meet 

"Iron Man," Loki breathed, feeling as if he had been punched in the heart. How long had it been since Loki had last seen his smile, or his face, his eyes, his hair, his swagger as he landed feet first with a crunch on the street between the Tower and the Avengers? Loki had not noticed until now just how long it had been. How long Tony must have been hidden from him then, and if Loki did not do it Tony must have found a way to do it himself. Did he not want Loki back? Did he not love Loki after all, the God wondered, anxiety making him nauseous, to think that Tony would banish even Loki’s memory from his life. 

He didn't have time to worry about that now. He had Thanos to deal with (the Other fortunately having been taken care of by Ronan, the Kree, a most fortuitous event) and Asgard to rally in his own defence. The Allfather was in the Odinsleep and the Queen was dead, Thor was norns-knew-where and the treaty signing with Jötunheimr and Álfheimr was next week and Loki didn't have a thing to wear to it. He should be focusing on those issues, for that was the plan all along. Those were the reasons he had left Anthony in the first place. But try as he might to glance away, to raise himself up from Hlidskjalf and walk from the throne room to the Bifrost, to travel to his Uncle Frey and discuss intergalactic politics (the art of taking without giving, where Asgard was concerned), Loki could not fathom letting Tony out of his sight. 

There was a niggling feeling, like someone reaching in to squeeze his heart, which told Loki if he looked away, he'd never see Tony Stark again. 

So he stared, hands clenched around the arm rests, heels grinding down into the floor every time Tony took a hit to keep himself from bolting right out of Hlidskjalf and running for the Bifrost. Loki watched the Avengers fight, and he watched the Avengers fall; one by one until they all looked like puppets crumpling after their strings had been cut. All, except Tony, who waited, tense; his suit half torn from him and wires sparking in absence of connecting circuitry, faceplate crushed between the fingers of Ultron-6's gauntlet as they stared at one another from across what was once a small park and a cafe that Steve often visited. It was a battlefield now, and no man's land was the space between Tony and Ultron-6, the Avengers fallen soldiers that lay spread out behind enemy lines with blood trailing from their mouths and ears, breath rattling their lungs and aching broken bones. Tony was the last man standing, and he was barely holding himself up. 

"JARVIS," He whispered, pausing to spit out a mouthful of blood and wipe his chin with the back of the hand that had lost the gauntlet. "You know what to do."

Tony's chest started to glow, the arc reactor suddenly as bright as a supernova (and just as deadly), and Odin's mouth fell open as Loki screamed. Tony's arms were around Ultron-6's shoulders, Ultron-6's fingers curled viciously into the skin of Tony's hip and waist, pressing them flush together as the arc reactor over heated. It was going to explode. It was going to explode and tear Ultron-6 apart. There would be no coming back from that, not when combined with the iridium that powered the creation, not when they both exploded together. But Tony would die too, and so would the Avengers if they stayed where they were, so Tony took a deep breath and whispered: "Take me away from them." 

And Ultron-6 did. 

Loki didn't care about Heimdallr or the Bifrost or his peace treaty. He didn't think about Thanos or Thor or Odin himself. He could only see Tony, wrapped in his creations arms, metal of the Iron Man suit denting in from the force of that thing's grip, and the fear in his wide, brown eyes as Ultron-6 shot into the sky taking Loki's precious mortal with him. Loki didn't plan, didn't consider, didn't even think: between one second and the next he was gone from Asgard and he appeared on Earth, on the roof of the Tower where he had once been defeated and then had spent several wonderful, happy months. Ultron-6 flew passed him, green visor flashing in recognition as Loki's hand turned green with magic, and a ball of fire connected with Ultron-6's left sole. Power cut off, and the creation lurched sideways in the air, arms flailing automatically to correct his flight pattern by using the repulsors in his gauntlets. In doing so, he let go of Tony. 

Tony fell. 

It was sudden and unexpected, and he didn't have time to draw breath to scream (or scream for JARVIS to fire up his own repulsors) before Loki had fallen after him and scooped him out of the air. With another flash of light, they were no longer falling, but entwined on the floor of Tony's lab with the door firmly locked behind them. 

"Anthony!" Loki breathed against the stunned mortal's cheek. "Anthony!" 

Fingers carefully carded through his hair. Hesitantly they moved to his face, patting both cheeks lightly before resting firmly against his skin, trembling with every breath Loki took, and then one moved to trace pale pink lips, his nose, his eyelids, and down over the shell of his ears. "You're real?" Tony asked, his voice trembling more than his fingers were, "You're alive?"

Loki's only response was to tug Tony closer to him, flushed fully against him, and kiss him. They kissed like they were fighting for air, sucking it from one another’s lungs, desperate and needy and hungry; it was furious and passionate and terrible all at once, and neither wanted to stop in case this was a dream they'd wake from. It was Loki that pulled away first, having heard the worrying hitches to Tony's breathing that meant his lungs were struggling to keep up. He pressed soft butterfly kisses to Tony's cheeks as his hands ran along Tony's back comfortingly, over and over until his lover had calmed down a little. 

"You're alive?" Tony repeated, wanting verbal confirmation as much as he wanted more kisses. 

"Yes. You were never supposed to think I was dead, Anthony. Thor was never supposed to tell you. I was going to come back, I just... I had tasks to complete first." His hands were framing Tony's face, keeping the human from pulling away from him. His thumbs were a familiar pressure against his pulse point, little fingers just touching Tony's nose, his ring and middle fingers rubbing over his sinus points until Tony felt tears beginning to pool. 

"But I did." Tony jerked his head away. He was angry and afraid, and he had been for such a long time, and it all could have been avoided if Loki had told him, if Loki had warned him. And now Loki was back and instead of grovelling he was caressing Tony's face the way he always did after a nightmare, calming him, making him complacent, when all Tony wanted to be (all Tony was) right now was pissed as hell. "YOU LEFT ME!" 

"I am sorry, mortal mine. I did not mean to leave you for so long." The ground beneath them shook; dust fell from the ceilings and covered their hair in a fine layer of grey and white. Outside sirens wailed and thunder rumbled, but no, it wasn't thunder, it was the building shaking again. Tony's hands scrambled against the floor, trying to dig in and hold on until he could find shelter because that's what he was taught to do during an earthquake. But he wasn't in Malibu anymore, and they didn't have earthquakes in New York, right? 

"I am afraid I must leave you again, my love," Loki whispered as he lent over the human to shield him as items that rocked their way off of Tony's work bench fell onto his back. "But I will be back much sooner this time."

He was gone before Tony could protest. Instead, the inventor called another of his suits to him, the sensors inserted beneath his skin glowing faintly red (like looking at the blood in your fingers through the skin under a very bright light) and faded. The Mark LV replaced the one that Tony pried off of himself. It was seamless and beautiful, all straight lines and glossy paint, practically perfect in every way just like its creator. Best of all, this one wouldn't betray him. 

"JARVIS, where's Loki?"

It was a relief to hear the A.I. respond. Communications in the Mark XLVII had been too badly damaged for Tony to keep up proper contact with JARVIS' interface let alone contact the Tower: so JARVIS could hear him, but not respond. Tony closed his eyes to relish the sound of his friend when JARVIS answered, "Mr Laufeyson has engaged with Ultron-6. Marks VII and XXIX are in pursuit. I apologise for allowing Mr Laufeyson to access the Tower, it will not happen again, Sir." Tony's brows furrowed, brain struggling to catch up with what was happening and not simply switch itself off, adrenaline fast wearing off and exhaustion setting in even faster. His mouth creased as he pursed his lips, one hand rubbing his temple before he slid the faceplate closed. "Target has been locked on, Sir. Mark VII is ready to fire the ion canon. Threat will be neutralized in five... four..."

"WAIT!" Tony shouted, voice echoing around the inside of his helmet and making his head ache. "Which target?" He pulled up the visual from the Mark VII, displaying it alongside his own on the visor-screen inside of his helmet. Loki fought against Ultron-6, and Loki was winning, but the Mark VII was charging the arc repulsor in its chest and aiming it at Loki's unprotected back. "Reverse Order alpha delta niner whiskey foxtrot seven seventeen. Loki is _not_ a target."

"Order reversed, Sir. Shall I fire on Ultron-six instead?"

Tony gave a hum in agreement, waving his hand in the direction of JARVIS' main lab camera, before he took off. By the time he got outside, boots leaving cracks in the concrete, Loki and the two Iron Man suits had taken care of Ultron-6. He was in pieces around them, his iridium core held in the palm of Loki's right hand, glowing softly as the God squeezed and squeezed until it disappeared with a soft pop into whatever dimension he hoarded his possessions in. 

"What have I told you about starting the party without me?" Tony groused, only half joking. Hurt pride meant he had wanted to kick his creation's ass himself, but at the same time the suit was all that was keeping him upright. So he feigned disinterest, hiding behind his usual mask of humour and sarcasm, all the while counting down those horrible terrifying seconds as Loki turned around to face him. Any moment now, Loki would disappear again, or worse SHIELD would swarm them in their ugly black jeeps, either way Tony would be left alone. But instead, Loki took three steps towards Tony before he stopped. His knees buckled and beneath them the ground shook again. 

“Fee Fi Fo, Loki?” Tony joked. The face plate slid up as the human crunched his way through the debris to his old lover’s side. 

“That wasn’t me,” Loki muttered, keeping his head bowed over his hands. Fingers curled around his knees until the knuckles turned white, and his feet were tucked under his ass, thighs trembling (from fear maybe, because when he looked up Loki was wearing that same look on his face from the time Thor smashed in their plane and stole him right from under Tony’s nose). “I love you, Anthony.”

A smile curved up his lips against his will, and Tony gave up trying to appear unaffected. Loki had already had him crying all over his armour, so what did it matter? “I love you too,” Tony responded, and they both ignored the grinding of the Iron Man’s knees as he bent to kneel beside the God. Behind Loki’s back, a tornado of light had grown bight and big enough to finally catch Tony’s attention. “Ah, that then?” Stark asked, already knowing what it was, what it meant, but he couldn’t keep himself for unnecessarily adding, “Thor’s come to put you back on your leash, then?”

“Something like that.” Loki didn’t bother to stand up. He allowed himself to slide sideways, so that he was resting against the chest plate of the Iron Man suit, Tony’s arc reactor a family pressure against his shoulder as he bent to tuck his head against Tony’s neck. “I don’t want to leave you again. I was planning on saving the nine realms, I planned to defeat the Titan and the Other and come back to you as a hero. I was going to be worthy of you; I would have made you proud. In doing so,” Loki sighed loudly as he trailed off, voice getting softer and sadder with each word. 

“You lost me?” Tony finished the sentence off, a question instead of a statement. “You haven’t lost me, Loki. You couldn’t lose me even if you tried. I have magical lo-jack.” Loki snorted, but didn’t otherwise respond. He was suddenly too busy staring at the figure that waited with one hand on Gungnir and an eye-patch of gold that reflected the light too well for Loki to make out the expression on his face. Anger, probably, or disappointment: they were Odin’s usual miens when it came to his youngest son (not son). The runes that always accompanied the Bi-Frost were engraved into the earth beneath Odin, but this time they smudged and faded as the Allfather walked out of the circle and closer to the two who waited, huddled together like frightened children, on the ground before him. 

“Loki Odinson,” Odin began, sounding strong and sure and _proud_ , “your Mother was right. Prison was not the place for you to learn the lessons I wished to teach you. I should have listened to her sooner, perhaps then she would still be with us.” The elder God paused for a moment, out of respect, (or for suspense, Tony thought, as he felt Loki’s heart beat skyrocket, one hand over his chest and arm around him to hold him close). “I know what your plans were, my son, and I know they were worthy and _good_. I fully intend to continue them in your honour,” the Allfather continued. Loki tensed up, drawing away from Tony as he waited for the axe to swing, but nothing happened. 

Around them came the sound of groans and hisses of pain. Steve was the first to move, raising an arm up off of the ground to drape across his battered face, hiding it from the sun. “Ugh,” he muttered, “you get the number of that truck?” 

“Nope,” Bruce slurred. He was naked, the Hulk having shredded his clothes again, but less bruised than the others (put together, so still pretty bruised). He was curled in a ball on the ground, half under a café table and half on what was left of a tree. 

Clint was still out of it, but Natasha was awake and staring at Odin like she wasn’t sure whether she was supposed to attack him or run for cover. And then her eyes landed on Loki, and she shot up off of the ground like she’d been electrocuted, landing on her feet with her knees bent like a cat having touched water: if she had a tail, it’d be puffed out in anger. She didn’t say anything though, mostly because Odin didn’t give her the chance. 

He continued talking, as if he had never been interrupted, ignoring the fact that both Tony and Loki’s attention had shifted away from him. “Mortals are fragile and short lived, but they are strong. We are _their_ equals, not their Gods,” he said, sternly, as he bent down until he was eye level with the other God in their presence. 

The conversation was stirring something in Loki, something familiar: had he heard it before? Green eyes widened as he realised he had- this was the point Odin had tried to get across after Loki’s arrest, before his sentence had been passed. Loki had only sneered and jeered and been purposely rude, silently begging for death before Thanos had time to find him, and he had ignored everything about Midgard and mortals both. Until he had met Anthony Stark again and realised first hand just how wonderful some humans could be. 

“Sometimes,” and here Odin paused to press a soft kiss to Loki’s forehead, “the lives of certain few outweigh the needs of the many.” It was nothing like what Loki thought he should be hearing, nothing like anything Odin had ever said before (except when banishing Thor for killing a handful of Jötnar after his failed coronation). But maybe that was the point? Maybe the point was that war changed the rules, and Odin had grown and ruled in war for so long that perhaps he himself that forgotten there was a difference, until Thor had followed in his footsteps, and then Loki too, killing innocents indiscriminately because it was all they had been taught to do. But now, now Loki had learnt that it was necessary to protect the one person who meant the most to him and damn the realms in the process if he had to. The realms would still be there after he saved Anthony Stark, but Tony wouldn’t have been if he had waited, and the realms would have burnt regardless in his fury. Perhaps, Loki thought, failing to protect that one important person had opened Odin’s eye to this lesson; the man had been willing to destroy Asgard in a war it couldn’t win for the chance to avenge Frigga, and Loki likely would have done the same, and Thor too had he not already learnt his lesson years ago in a desert on Midgard. 

“I pardon you,” the Allfather finished softly. His hand carded once through Loki’s hair and down over his right cheek, thumb brushing against the cut that Ultron-6 had left there, before he moved to squeeze Iron Man’s shoulder. “My blessings on you both.” 

That too, was not what Loki thought he would ever hear. Relationships like this one were not accepted on Asgard, or at least not without a certain stigma and a lot of mocking or hiding. He found himself smiling widely up at the man who had raised him, and had failed him, but who had tried despite it all to understand Loki even when Loki couldn’t. Perhaps it was time to let bygones be bygones, to forget (no, maybe not forget), but forgive? 

“Thank you,” Loki answered with a shallow, polite bow of his head. He added after a moment’s pause, jaw clenching as he considered his options and mouth curling in a familiar sly smirk as he came to his decision: “Father.” 

Odin was smiling too when the light of the Bi-Frost returned to collect him, whisking him away in a swirl of colour and light and noise. Tony turned his face away, squinting his eyes until the wind had died down and the Allfather was far, far away from them. It was just him and Loki now, who had permission to remain with him on Earth, permission to _be_ with him, and a fuck tonne of bruises between the two of them. 

“Uh hum.” Tony’s eyes flicked from Loki’s face to the person who had cleared their throat and then back again. Clint did not look impressed, but he was also out of arrows so Tony wasn’t too worried about him at that moment in time. 

It was him and Loki, and most of the Avengers too (cause sure, why not, and what was a relationship without a family to brag to about it?). The day had been saved, no one had died; everything else could wait. 

“Wait for what, Stark?” Steve demanded as Tony brushed Clint off, attempting to look disapproving, but scrunching his nose up like he was in pain instead. 

“For this,” Tony told him, serious as he had ever been before in his life. The Avengers waited, even Bruce had uncurled himself enough to be able to stare at Loki with a numb sort of horrified expression on his green tinged face. Tony could have told them the truth, about how he and Loki had fallen in love over a long period of time, or he could have said how Loki saved his life, or how he had died inside the day Thor told him Loki had died. But that would take too long, and anyway, actions spoke louder than words. So, as his friends watched and waited, Tony grabbed Loki’s jaw with one gauntleted hand and pulled their mouths together. 

Clint gagged and Natasha hissed in annoyance, Steve and Bruce turned away both blushing and uncomfortable, and the Bi-Frost deposited Thor to the left of them in time to watch Loki twist in Tony’s arms, until his legs were on either side of the mortal’s waist and his weight was in his lap. They kissed again, and again, and again, until the novelty wore off and the Avengers left them to it. When it was actually just Tony and Loki, just the two of them alone, they were too busy kissing to notice. 

_You say you want to know him like a lover_  
And undo his damage, he'll be new again   
You want one true lover with a thousand kisses   
You want soft and gentle and never vicious 

**The End**

Thank you all for reading. This took me about two months, working on it on and off whenever I had some spare time, so please leave a review or a kudos and let me know that it was appreciated? Please? Also, then bring me tea, deal? :)


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